Summer Solstice, 2021

I was excited for today.

Monday June 21, 2021.

Summer solstice.

Most daylight hours of the year.

Turns out things don't always go as they are supposed to.

I didn't think to take a picture this morning a little after 11 when I thought 

"that's weird, it looks like dusk..."

pending summer thunderstorms will do that

and it didn't matter that I was picture poor this morning

because pretty much this morning looked like it did a little after 3pm

and a little before 7pm

8pm was brighter than it was this morning,

because the sun pierced through the clouds

Before the sun made its "appearance" I was thinking about how sometimes the sun or light is blocked. And when that obstacle is something we cannot control or remove, when we are on the edge or in the middle of a storm, or in the dark of night, we think time is passing, but if we look at what is front of us, it's hard to tell. It can be difficult to differentiate one day from the next. It can be easy to feel "stuck", like nothing will ever change. I think it was the movie Groundhog's Day that was about living life on a "loop"-the same thing, day in and day out. 

and whether or not the weather made it obvious, 

the truth remains:

today was the summer solstice.

When the sun made its break through the clouds it allowed me to take a picture of what I know to be true in life: the shadows, the dimness, the darkness, for a believer, cannot last forever. The Light of Life will break through. In the meantime, we need to hold fast to what we know to be true and keep doing the next right thing. Especially when we aren't "feeling it" because feelings are a horrible motivation, an unreliable gauge to make decisions by. Friend, if it is supposed to be your summer solstice, but storms are keeping you from seeing it, hold one. Brighter days are coming. If not here, then when we go home.

from Revelation 21:23-25

"And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light...In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed..."

It 9pm, almost night, the "correct" time for it to begin getting darker-

but the sky is actually the brightest it has been all day.

I love how God works and speaks truth into my life.